We're sorry to announce that Marc Duke won't be able to attend our Best of Missouri Hands conference, but we're extremely pleased that Marc made arrangements with Cindy Lerick to fill his role as keynote speaker after he found he was unable to attend.
The Best of Missouri Hands welcomes one of the top people in the industry to the annual ArtSmart conference, this year entitled “Art Springs in Springfield”. Cindy Lerick, Executive Director of Cultural Festivals which produces the award-winning Saint Louis Art Fair, will give a keynote address dealing with how independent artists have been affected by the recession and strategies that artists can use to help their careers.
The Saint Louis Art Fair, consistently ranked in the Top Ten of the Art Fair SourceBook’s Top Fine Art Events, is a nationally juried fine art and fine craft show. Over 100,000 people attend the free event each September and total sales for the event typical exceed 1.5 million dollars. Lerick has been executive director for two years. Prior to that, she was the Executive Director of the Uptown Art Fair in Minneapolis and co-directed the Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival.
Although Lerick has primarily been involved with art fairs throughout her career, she also keeps close tabs on artists who do not regularly do art fairs and market instead through galleries and other means. She is known for her personal touch, putting herself in the artists’ shoes to help insure their success while keeping an eye on the bottom line.
The ArtSmart Conference is an annual event for The Best of Missouri Hands which is an artisan group devoted to the promotion and education of Missouri artists. Education, inspiration, networking, and workshops will be offered along with Friday Night Frolics and a silent auction. The Artisan Showcase will be open to the public and offer participating artists a chance to exhibit and sell their work. Additional breakout sessions are planned on topics ranging from developing a portfolio, utilizing social media to promote your work, how to sell wholesale, getting juried into gallery exhibits and more.
Registration includes Friday evening reception, Saturday lunch and the Saturday evening banquet. The University Plaza Hotel in downtown Springfield provides breakfast on Saturday and Sunday for guests who stay at the hotel. Registrants are invited to bring guests to the Friday evening reception. Additional activities require that guests purchase and present tickets to participate. For full details and pricing, please visit www.bestofmissourihands.org
We hope that you will join us for a very creative, fun-filled weekend as Art Springs in Springfield.
For further information:
www.bestofmissourihands.org
Phone: (636) 293-6864
Comments
Thanks Connie! You were a big hit last year.
I was a speaker at last year's conference in Springfield. If anyone lives near it is well worth the time and money to spend a few days with like minded people and knowledgeable speakers. We all get stuck doing the same old, same old, getting out and participating at a conference like this can recharge you, sending you off with new ideas and a very welcome break in this really cold winter.
There was a full schedule of helpful workshops. The organization is very hands-on and sharing.
Artists were not only local. I met people from Iowa and Illinois also -- you deserve some fun. Visit Springfield, meet Cindy and you'll be glad you did.
I had a great time last year